Damai Beach De-Stress, Day 1

Awoke early and, upon looking out of my window, discovered my room overlooked the beautiful South China sea and the beach. Could hear the waves gently washing up and down the shore.

Breakfast with a new feline friend before heading out to start the day with a visit to the Sarawak Cultural Village. Was a 5min walk from the hotel – already the day was very hot and humid, so not long before the sweat was running freely! No gentle glow of perspiration here!!

So, as my bright green Sarawak passport says, the aim of the Cultural Village is to portray “live” the state’s rich cultural diversity in one single place. It’s a 17.5 acre sprawling expanse on the foothill of the legendary Mount Santubong, fronting the South China Sea with 7 authentic ethnic houses built around a man-made lake. The houses include an Iban longhouse, a Bidayuh longhouse, Penan hut, Melanau tall house, a Sago house and a Malay hut. Inside each place were people engaged in various activities – some showed me how blowpipes were carved from bamboo, others how incredibly intricate and colourful rugs were woven, how rice is ground and winnowed and how sago flour is derived from the wild sago trees and processed to make sago flour or little round balls, or made into thin wafer which are then lightly toasted over an open wood fire. I bought a packet for 2RM and they were extremely tasty!!

After exploring various houses for a couple hours, was time for the Cultural Show. Was a series of traditional dances in brightly coloured Malay costumes. All very touristy but tastefully done!

Sarawak Village exhausted, back to hotel and – on spur of moment – book a luxury package (The Royal Secrets of Ledang) at the nearby spa. On the list of services I was to enjoy: a thousand flowers (all of them pretty smelly, as it turned out!) body oil massage, hair and healthy scalp treatment (which I think was liquid Vicks menthol), facial cleansing massage, milk herbal scrub, milk herbal bath (yes – with rose petals!), a body steaming treatment (basically zipped up in a blue plastic sweatbox!) topped off with a herbal drink. By the end of the 4 (!) hours, I was so relaxed I could barely function – it was all I could do to stagger back to my room, order room service and then fall asleep. Its a tough life, but someone has to do it.